Seven!

Do you get tired of hearing me say "I can't believe how old she is!"?  I'm sorry, but it's true.  Seven!  I have a seven-year old daughter!!  How the heck did that happen?  Last night, after we read stories, I cuddled with Bradyn for a little while as we listened to Harry Potter on CD.  When I told B that I wanted to savour the last few minutes I had with my 6-year old, she said "I'm sorry you're sad Mommy".  I couldn't even begin to explain my feelings to her.  Yes I was sad, but it was a bittersweet sad, not a 'bad' sad, you know? 

As I'm looking back over the last 6 birthday posts tonight (7 if you include her actual birth day), I can't get over how much Bradyn has changed.  The nearly 9-pound, dark auburn-haired baby that grew into a chubby blonde toddler, is now a 56-pound blonde beauty. 

(LOL.  OK, if I'd been drinking fluids as I typed that, I would have spit it across the room.  Let's pretend that big gap in her smile isn't there for a moment.....Sorry, that's not fair - she's still beautiful... right now it's just in a goofy-looking kind of way.  Regardless, I love that little girl with all my heart, even if I'm not used to her new smile yet.) 

Unfortunately, Kevin has been working brutally long hours this week, so he was gone before we got up this morning.  When I went in to wake Bradyn up, she was quick to tell me that she felt different, and was trying to convince me that her arms and legs had grown longer overnight.  For the first time in weeks, Bradyn popped out of bed, ate and got dressed.  You see, she's seven now, so she's a big kid.  When we measured her, we saw that she had grown 1.5 inches since October (but not overnight).  She got to open one gift this morning, but the rest had to wait until tonight.  Bradyn was in a great mood this morning and we were laughing a lot.  Such a nice start to the day. 

I picked Bradyn up a little early from after-school care today so that we could go out and celebrate her birthday at the restaurant of her choice - Pizza Hut (thankfully, they have a GREAT tropical shrimp gluten free pizza).  I have to tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Bradyn tonight, although I wished that Kevin could have joined us.  We had a lot of fun - we talked, she told me about school, she told stories, she did her homework in the restaurant, we joked, she was doing all kinds of crazy poses for Mamarazzi, and she ate her dinner in less than an hour! (belive me, you have no idea what a big deal that is) 

When we got home, Kevin was heading off to bed, but he was able to stay up long enough to watch Bradyn open the remainder of her gifts (thank you everyone!).  B & I snuggled again tonight, and then it was off to dreamland for her.  What a great birthday.

We had Bradyn's birthday party on Saturday, so I'll post some of those photos this weekend but, until then, enjoy this one of the toothless beauty, loving her birthday dinner at Pizza Hut. 

Happy Birthday Big Girl!